Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Deegee! Thank you! The ring is rose gold and the appraisal says the sapphires are .96 tcw so they are roughly .20 carats each. I like the "blue" look.

Darn that Matt missed out on the poker party. I agree that we all tend to put in more hours working from home. I am iin the office tomorrow and will try to work ahead so we can have some breathing room. i won't do my normal stuff. Ugh. That is funny the helpers you have act like you are their manager. I am sure you are smiling because you aren't.

Too funny you looked up a Karen hairdo. Your haircut sounds like something I'd like. I want mine a little longer and way more layered. I need to find a picture for my next haircut.

That's good to have an in with the database guy. That's great your trail worked and found a scenario you hadn't thought of before. Getting 1200 done tomorrow will be great.

Darn they didn't call you for an opening on the root canal today. Hoping something opens up on Monday. That's good you have some pain pills if you need them. I am totally on board with the Bloody Mary. That sounds great!!!!

Laters,
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy Weekend.

Marty's poker game went well; he didn't win but they all had fun. We both had eye exams first thing today so Marty had a short night. I went to bed at my normal time though so I'm not tired.

After my exam I came home and had one of my farmer's market peaches; it was delicious. They finally got ripe enough to eat. Then I ran some errands. I'd just sat down when Marty wanted me to come over to the gym.

We had our deck and steps painted yesterday so I needed to take him the cash to pay the painter. I did my lifting while I was there trying a smaller bar to see if it will hurt my fingers as much as the larger bar. I did like it so now we'll see when someone gets them back in stock.

After lifting we went our for Mexican food, I was pretty hungry since all I'd eaten so far was a peach.

I just finished my August newsletter and got it posted. Woo hoo!!!

I love it when I over estimate my budget. I saved $1200 for having our deck, rails and steps painted and they charged us $600 and i threw in an extra hundred as a tip. I figured our eye exams and glasses would come to about $2400 and we came out of there under $800. Woo hoo more money for my sapphire. Marty's eyes were unchanged and he likes his glasses so he only had to pay for his co-pay and the pictures of his eyes. I got new glasses, ordered computer glasses (lenses) for my current pair of glasses and also ordered new lenses for my sunglasses. My vision has changed quite a bit. My baby cataracts are more visible in my central vision so they couldn't get me past 20-30 in testing. The doctor still says they wouldn't need removed for 10-12 years. The scar on my macula is unchanged.

Looks like a storm is moving in now. Darn.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

 

[deegee]

Marcy-you’re just saving money right and left! You can buy more stuff!! We decided not to have our deck stained this year. Matt pressure washed it and it still looks pretty good. I’m guessing next year is the year. Did yours turn out well?

Hopefully the smaller bar will be in stock soon. We have to do every little thing that helps! Glad Marty’s poker party went well and he had fun. We all need a little fun these days! I haven’t had a peach in so long. I get suckered in at the grocery store, and they either never ripen or are mush with no flavor. I should try the farmers market.

Great job on getting the August newsletter out already. You are on it!! Does your eye dr think the scar on your macula will get better over time? I had a total posterior vitreous detachment with Weiss ring. The ring is basically a massive floater made up of the detached vitreous. I call it the greasy blob on the center of my vision. It’s supposed to shrink over time, and there is a surgery that can either help or make it worse. The surgery didn’t sound super successful, so I opted to leave it alone. Hopefully your baby cataracts don’t grow up!

I started out yesterday being really productive. Got a load of laundry done, there another in the dryer and started cleaning house. Matt changed out the faulty light switch in the master bathroom and started cleaning upstairs. Then the dryer croaked. UGH. Matt’s grandma bought it a few months before she died in 1993. We had to replace the washing machine last year, and today were going dryer shopping. I’m not terribly sad about that because that dryer had 2 settings...fluff and crispy. And by the way, I really miss my cleaners!

We finally broke down and went to Office Depot Friday to get 2 chair pads, and I got a desk pad and some other supplies. Our home offices weren’t supposed to be for always working from home. I brought my comfy Herman Miller chair from work a few months ago, and destroyed the small rug I used as a chair pad. I don’t want to destroy the hardwood floor too. We also went to kohl’s and I bought some comfy clothes for working from home. Right now there’s no end in sight! I’ve done great with food this weekend because I don’t feel like eating. It’s been mostly raining, so we haven’t been able to get a good walk in. Oh well... off to buy a dryer.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Is it really Sunday already?

Deegee, that's great your deck looked good after pressure washing it; it is amazing what a difference it can make. Our new stain looks great. They did a nice job.

Yes, I hope the smaller bar is available soon - I am really sore and achy today - I am sure I lifted from a different stance yesterday and my body is complaining about it. I leave my racks set up for where I lift from and was only guessing at the gym.

I agree about peaches from the store; I love good peaches and can't stand bad ones. Peaches from the store are usually a waste of money. I'll only buy 2 and then if they are good I'll go back and buy us 6 but that second batch is never good. Darn. I do have good luck with the local farmer's market though.

I am sorry about your greasy blob; I don't blame you for passing on the surgery since there is no guarantee it would help. My scar will never go away or get better. The doctor has been mentioning baby cataracts to me for years but the intern that was doing the tests had me concerned that's grown a lot - my normal doctor just said they aren't big enough yet for surgery. They do contribute to my blurry vision though. The intern I don't think even got me to 20 30 correction. If I am not happy I'll have the eye doctor try it again. They don't seem to spend much time playing the "which is better" game and I have a hard time telling the difference.

Darn that your dryer needs replaced but wow it lasted a long time! They don't seem to make appliances that last that long now. Such a pain to decide what you want too; next time I'm going to pick blue washer and dryers - ha. Limit my choices.

Oh no for missing your cleaners. Are they shut down or are you choosing not to have them clean? I remember asking Marty if we should have our cleaning lady continue cleaning and he said why not - she's covered in cleaners anyway. I don't do this now but originally I wiped down all the switches and door knobs she touched after she cleaned. I'm over that now; I faithfully wash my hands.

Nice for buying some comfy work at home clothes. Marty's office attire is shorts, t-shirt and flip flops or barefoot. Good idea to get some chair pads - that would stink to have the chair scratch up your floors.

I was going to sleep in but Marty set off the alarm at 6:30 this morning. That woke me up and probably most of the dogs in the neighborhood. I made myself a pancake for breakfast and put peaches and whip cream on top. It was delicious. I got laundry done and washed the sheets and blanket from our bed. We met for lunch as Marty had clients to coach this morning. He is outside now power washing off parts of our grill; he is cleaning it all and then putting it back together. He is probably leaving our patio furniture on the patio down under the deck and then find some chairs for the deck. I want wrought iron chairs because my anal OCD brain believes they are more clean than wicker furniture with cushions. I know they are equally dirty. Sadly wrought iron isn't very popular right now.

Take care.
Curby / Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I can’t say I’ve taken many mental health days in my life but I needed one today and I feel way better. I slept in, had an egg and toast for breakfast, ran some errands. The cleaning lady was here this morning so I washed towels after she left. When Marty got finished with morning conference calls we went to Olive Garden for lunch. This afternoon I donned the necessary mask and went grocery shopping. What a zoo. Something Marty and I have discussed was on full display. Over 60% of the people shopping were in their golden years now venturing out and believing they are safe with masks because we are all told wearing a mask “may” protect you and others. Our town is packed with out of state visitors probably because our state has less restrictions. I keep looking for an exit from the Twilight Zone.

I am so full from lunch I had a piece of toast for supper but I bet I can squeeze in some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Since I went grocery shopping I did get ice cream and chocolate. Plus food of course.

I wandered around some of the local botanical gardens this morning. That was fun.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I’m so glad you took a mental health day. I am a firm believer in mental health days! Sometimes you really need that mind reset. I hope you had an enjoyable day, and I’m sorry work has been so bad. The flowers are beautiful! I wish we had somewhere like that, but I don’t think we do.

Funny you mention that about masks. Our state Covid expert said yesterday that he feared people were wearing masks and thinking it was fine to do everything else and not distance. I believe he’s right!

I’m ready for the cleaners to come back but Matt isn’t. He has so many meetings and calls during the day, he doesn’t want the noise and distraction. His office is upstairs and mine is downstairs. I’m considering having them clean at least the first floor and maybe the stairs. Our first floor has the master bedroom and bath, a spare bedroom, laundry room, my office, kitchen, breakfast nook, family room, and another full bath. Getting the first floor cleaned would knock out the bulk of it. Neither of us had been given a tentative date for returning to the office. I miss my cleaners!

Wrought iron deck furniture would last way longer than wicker! The wrought iron dining set we have on the deck has lasted for years, and the wicker conversation set got destroyed in a windstorm. The Amish bench I bought is that recycled poly material that is supposed to last for many years.

Good idea to decide on a blue washer/dryer set to cut down on choices! We replaced our washer last year, so we went straight to that washer in Lowe’s and bought the matching dryer. Of course, we consulted consumer reports. The LG appliances get really high ratings, so we went with that. Lowe’s delivery time was 4 weeks out, so we stuffed that bad boy in the back of Matt’s SUV. All good.

Root canal at 8:30 in the morning. Hallelujah! Goodnight!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, i think I'll take a few more mental health days; it was refreshing. We do have a very nice botanic gardens for a small city. It is well supported by our community.

That is interesting about your state COVID expert, I would agree wearing masks do give people a false sense of security.

That is a lot of clean on the first floor. I'm with you - I'd get them back there cleaning for you. Marty is usually working when our cleaning lady is downstairs; he just shuts the door when she vacuums and doesn't have her clean his office.

Glad to hear the wrought iron set you have has lasted so long and that poly material patio furniture is supposed to hold us as well. Sadly I am looking at the end of the season. I should venture around the few stores this weekend to see what we have. Obviously Marty isn't convinced yet because I asked him at lunch if II should order the Trex stuff and he didn't answer me. I saw he was watching videos last night on how to make benches so maybe he is toying with that.

Yes, it seems like Samsung or Bosch has a blue washer and dryer that I liked the color but they were front loaders. I wanted a top loader and yes I'm so short I have trouble reaching the bottom. Ha Ha. Yes LG appliances are rated well and we'd do the same thing haul the appliance home ourselves rather than wait 4 weeks. i keep hoping my stove will act up because I want to get the GE Cafe Series stove that matches our refrigerator. The way refrigerators crap out in a few years these days my newer refrigerator will probably quit before the stove does.

Sweet you got an appointment for a root canal tomorrow. Good luck with that!!!

Work wasn’t quite as hectic today as it has been but it was very busy. I ordered in sandwiches for us for lunch to save time. I did log off my work laptop at 4:30 though and got my lifting done right away.

My allergies are talking to me - Marty had the patio door open for about an hour and we have weeds out by since we are by a greenway. Phooey.

I tried a brownie in a mug - not nearly as good as a real brownie. I’ll past on the rest of the box to a friend with kids. Someone told me they were good. Maybe I’ll make cookies tomorrow.

Take care.
Marcy (aka Curby)

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I guess the Trex stuff is what I ordered. I liked the idea of no maintenance other than wiping it down every now and then. Does Marty build stuff? Matt is not handy in that regard! I can’t criticize because I’m not either.

I kind of remember the blue Samsung washer/dryer set. I wanted a top load washer. Both sisters and mom have the front loaders and don’t like them. The door on my new dryer is a dual opening door, which is pretty cool. We discovered it accidentally when I had opened it at the top to look inside and a few minutes later Matt opened it from the side, not realizing I had just opened it from the top. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your stove will crap out before your refrigerator.

Take as many mental health days as you can! Do you take a daily allergy medicine? I have taken Claritin for years after I discovered Zyrtec was messing with my eyes. My dr thought it would help prevent sinus infections. I think it has. You’re being so faithful with your lifting. Has it become a habit now? I got in the habit of taking walks every day, and it felt so wrong when we first started slacking.

I can’t do anything simple, and my root canal was no different. She started with 2 shots, then did 2 more and then opened my tooth. The assistant said “wow, that’s angry tooth!” As it went on, the endodontist had to put 3 more shots straight down into the tooth because those nerves were NOT getting numb. And then they discovered my tooth had 4 canals instead of the usual 3 so the whole thing took longer than expected. It’s over, and hopefully it will feel better tomorrow. I came home and worked my full day. We took a couple of short walks through the neighborhood and I had a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. Soft food!

I still haven’t contacted whiteflash about making earrings. I really, really want what I had, so I’m thinking about asking them to make one in that same size, but leaving off the post. I’ll take it to my jeweler to have him make a lever back drop like the other earring. Then I’d like to have a pair made in a larger size in yellow gold, and put in lever back dangles. I don’t know that they would make one earring though.

Have a great Thursday!

Oh-and the endodontist had a gorgeous wedding set, and a great pair of diamond hoops in the first piercing and very nice diamond studs in the second piercing in her ears. So incredibly sparkly! I couldn’t compliment her on them because by the time I was finished, I was a slobbery mess.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy Weekend.

Deegee, your root canal sounds like a major ordeal. I've had one and remember how uncomfortable it was to have your mouth propped open that long. I hope you are feeling way better now. Glad your endodontiist had some lovely diamonds.

I like low maintenance outdoor furniture as well. Marty does a nice job building things (not so much on the cleanup but what can I say). I just don't see how he'd have time between work and the gym. I still can't get him to say "order it". The biggest hangup is an estimated 9 week delivery time.

I like that color of blue in the washer and dryer; they have a nice red set as well. That is exactly why I didn't want a front loader washing machine is because they get stinky. The place we rented on the beach in SC was so bad your clothes smelled like it after using it. That is pretty cool your dryer opens 2 ways; that is very handy.

That's great Claritin helps your allergies. I don't take any allergy medicine it turns me in to a major crybaby and a total B*tch. It's unreal how much it alters my personality. Everyone says "I'd like to see that" and Marty responds "no you wouldn't".

Yes, lifting has become a habit; I even do it when I don't want to and that's good.

You could probably send your earring in to Whiteflash and they could match it for you; that way you'd still have one original. I think they would do that for you; it wouldn't hurt to ask. I really like diamond dangle earrings. I have a pair of their ready set-to-go PC studs (they had those a long time ago - ACA studs without certificates) and thought I'd lost one of them and they said I could send them the one earring and they'd match it. I found it about 5 days after it fell out of my ear. When I put it in I must have missed the hole in my ear and it probably caught it in my hair. I took my shoes with me to the living room to put them on and I remembered when I bent over to pick up a shoe something fell and hit my foot but I could find it. It wasn't until that night I noticed one of my studs was missing. I looked everywhere and then a few days later I noticed a glint by the coffee table and it was my earring. Now I flick on the back of my earrings to make sure they are secure; I do the same with a chain now too.

I am totally glad the week is over. I may have to add some games for tomorrow tonight and I am helping with some back to back games tomorrow. Hopefully Sunday will be quiet work wise.

I made a grilled cheese for supper and polished off the rest of my chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Easy supper.

I've got a giant fly in here that is pretty good at hiding when I get out the fly swatter. I'll get him.

Marty's laptop is back from Apple already. I don't remember if you told you but his battery swelled so much it popped the bottom case open and bowed the bottom; it wouldn't even set flat. I bet they moved his hard drive to a refurbished laptop but we'll see. He had a sticker on top of it so if it's gone then we'll know.

Have a fabulous weekend.
Marcy / Curby

 

[deegee]

Marcy-the place I ordered deck furniture from was polylumber furniture, and it took every bit of 10 weeks to get it. I was beginning to wonder! I really like it, although I’m kicking myself for ordering brown instead of black to match the dining set.

I’m glad you found your earring! Those things are good at hiding. I dropped my earring as I was putting it in and I watched it bounce across the tile toward the vent. We didn’t have time to do a good search for it before work and it was cleaning day, so I left a note for the cleaners not to clean the master bath. Matt thinks they did clean it and the earring got sucked up in the vacuum. I think it went down into the duct. I have tried to convince Matt to go under the house to unhook the duct, but he is not sentimental at all and tells me to order a new pair. Plus he 100% thinks the cleaners vacuumed it up. I didn’t think about sending them mine and having another made. That’s a great idea! I’ll contact them next week.

Oh no for Marty’s laptop! I bet they did put it into a refurbished one. It would be touch to get the original laptop to sit flat again. How did that happen? You hear some crazy stories about batteries for electronics. They kind of scare me.

I hope work isn’t bad this weekend. If you don’t mind me asking (and feel free not to answer!), what is it that you do? My project is going pretty well so far. We’re only on the second county out of 55 counties, and this one is requiring manual fixes instead of an across the board data fix like the last county. Luckily I’ve been given a pretty sharp team of people for support. The deputy director (my boss) gave me her assistant, our agency outreach coordinator (no seminars right now, just a few webinars), our paralegal, and a higher level employee from our employer reporting section. It’s amazing not to have to hand-hold! I’m using Teams to manage the project, and so far I’m loving it. I figured what better way to learn Teams than to jump in and start using it. I really should work some this weekend. I’m loving the overtime!

We haven’t walked in a few days, other than in the neighborhood. I had a novocaine hangover from all those shots on Thursday, and we worked way too late yesterday. Or maybe the park closes too early! I’ve still been eating soft food. I have had 2 root canals before this one, but they were not nearly as bad as this one. Stupid tooth. Goes along with the rest of 2020! Our neighborhood is having a block party tonight. The street in front of our house is blocked off. Luckily our garage is on a different street so we’re not blocked. I guess we’ll have to go for a bit because otherwise, everybody would be able to see me up here pretending not to be home! I’m not sure how I feel being around a bunch of people. I’ll play this one by ear. Have a great weekend!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids,

Deegee, do you like the polylumber furniture you ordered? I saw their website. Darn you wish you picked another color. I am always a second guesser on purchases.

Yes dropped jewelry is very good at hiding. Oh no that your earring went down the vent; bummer you don't have a basement making it easier to get in to the duct. That would be great if WF can make you another one.

We often talk about my "duct" shot; I was pulling off a sweater with cuffs that caught a pearl and knocked it off my ring. The pearl arched across the bed and went straight down the floor vent. Probably about 7 feet a way; neither one of us could have made that shot if we tried. We heard it hit then roll. Marty went to the basement; took the duct apart and stuck his long old arm in and finally found it.

Marty's laptop is his original and it looks fine. I guess the battery just expanded from overheating. My laptop has been getting hot on my lap so I keep sitting it on a lap board or on top of my iPad.

Glad to hear your project is going pretty well. Even better that the team you have to assist with your project are doing their jobs and doing it well! That makes your life so much easier. Good idea to get familiar with teams; we had that for awhile now it's Google Chat. That's nice you get overtime. My employees get OT but I am salaried. We are so busy most of my team had 20 hours of OT the last 2 weeks. I work for a TV broadcasting company and one of the jobs my team handles is applying those much hated blackout restrictions on sporting events. With all the back to back games going on right now and last minute changes it takes a lot of our attention and time. I bet I worked 9 hours today and it's Saturday. So every time you hear a game was cancelled that means lots of work for my team; even worse is when they want to add games for today or early tomorrow. Most of what we do is manual entries. Sadly there is no room for error because if we make one millions of people know.

Sorry to hear the root canal was such a rough one; that was something about the extra root. Hopefully you feel better soon. I chuckled that it goes right along with 2020. I see lots of memes about what's next for the year. We gotta keep our sense of humor right?

Not a bad idea to put in an appearance at the neighborhood block party. It is just hanging out or is it food? Our neighborhood usually has BBQ in the summer but cancelled it this year.

So as I said I've spent most of my day working. I get an email when the TV guide gets loaded each day and it's usually here by 9 at the latest on the weekend. About 10 I started emailing people. No answer. Finally called that departments on call number. They knew about it but didn't know if it would get loaded. My problem then is I can't make any changes for today until that file is loaded plus we were waiting on several things to get added. Then we had multiple updates for NHL and MLB. And so my day went. We just had popcorn for supper and I'm dishing up ice cream for us when I finish this.

Tomorrow is laundry and lifting.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

 

[marcy]

Okay I liked this one:

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy Sunday!

I had to dial in and do some work this morning for about 90 minutes. Phooey. Hopefully I am done with that for the day.

Marty wanted to go to breakfast but since I knew I had to work I said I couldn't so maybe we can go to breakfast next weekend. That sounds really good. I have a roast in the crock pot for supper.

I almost have laundry done and got my lifting done a little while ago. Marty cut up a cantaloupe I picked up last week so I had some of it for lunch. I need to get more peaches.

Have a great day!
Marcy / Curby

 

[deegee]

Marcy-that face is one we’re all going to be making when someone mentions 2020! I told Matt about one of your jobs was applying the blackout restrictions and wowza! He sure went on a rant! I saw there were some major league cancellations and was hoping it didn’t cause you more work. I hope you didn’t have to work anymore today! Each person on my team has been approved for 10 hours of overtime a week to work on this project. Some will be happy to work extra and I definitely will.

We were visiting a friend in Cincinnati several years ago, and his wife worked for a broadcasting company (Fox affiliate, I believe). They turned on the Reds game for a few minutes before we left to eat, and a ticker (?) started running across the bottom with some goofy information, like happenings in town the next day or something like that. She picked up the phone and had a very brief conversation with someone (a few choice words), and all of a sudden the ticker disappeared. I don’t know what her job was, but there were lots of local Cincinnati news people, talk show hosts and that kind of people at their wedding. I remember feeling very under-made up!

Funny you have already moved on from Teams, and the state office of technology is just now putting it on our machines. I had to do a special request to get it for 2 of the people helping me. It’s been on mine for a few months because I’m considered a technology employee. I kept ignoring it so I wouldn’t have to learn something else.

Too bad you couldn’t go to breakfast. I hope you get there next weekend! We have agreat local restaurant downtown that does weekend brunch. I need to suggest that for next weekend. You mentioning cantaloupe and peaches reminded me that I had intended to go to the farmers market. By the time I looked up their hours today, they were already closed. They don’t have working people friendly hours during the week either.

Not a lot going on today. We took our good walk at the park, and there were sooo many people there. The picnic shelters were packed, the parking lot for the pool was full, lots of people golfing, and some kind of event going on at the soccer field with lots of people mingling. We’ve had a huge spike in cases and a lot of deaths. I know city officials are actually going around to see if people are following guidelines in public places, and I know they’re not. I don’t want to get shut down again! Our block party was also a graduation party for 3 kids in our neighborhood, and there were at least 75, maybe close to 100 people there. All kinds of cars parked in front of my house and down the street into the next street. People in our neighborhood would have walked. So I’m thinking there were lots of people from wherever, so I didn’t go down. Matt and Lily did for a few minutes, but he said he got nervous with so many people so close together and came back up the hill. I’m an introvert anyway, and now groups of people make me even more nervous!

I had fresh pineapple for breakfast and we made cheese coneys and potato salad for dinner. Not super exciting. Boo that the weekend is already over! Have a great Monday!!

 

[deegee]

Howdy! Hot day today. We waited as late as we could to get a good walk in at the park, hoping it would cool down some. We got roast beef sandwiches on the way home. Food was pretty good today, except I had too many Rice Krispie treats. Matt makes the best ones I’ve ever had! I worked a few hours extra today and that’s about it for my day. All 3 of my library holds came in within a day of each other, so no more Netflix for a while! Have a great day tomorrow!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, if you and Matt are one of our customers he’ll be cursing me out when he can’t watch a game. Yes, any time a major league or pro game is cancelled we have to deal with it. I told my boss today the COVID cancellations are like blizzards and hurricanes hitting all at once.

Ten hours of overtime a week will be a very nice chunk of change. My old job was hourly and I loved times when I could get those extra hours.

Yes, I bet your friend worked for FOX Cincinnati and / or Fox Ohio because they air the Reds games. That’s nice your friend had some local celebrities at her wedding.

Our company moved away from Microsoft to Google apps because it’s cheaper. Luckily our department needs Access which isn’t part of the Google suite so we still have Microsoft Office. Which is good because my team uses Macros in Excel to make our lives easier.

Good plan to heat the local place for brunch this weekend. I have visions of a nice Belgian waffle. Our Tuesday farmers market is 3-6 so not worker friendly. The Saturday one is 8-12. It’s too crowded so I rarely go to that one.

That is too bad you have so many cases and deaths there. I understand Sweden has pretty much been case and fatality free so there is hope. Of course they didn’t really shut down or wear masks; hindsight will tell who and what was right. They are saying T cells make you resistant to COVID and you get those from having colds.

Fresh pineapple sounds delicious.

Last night while peeling potatoes I thought of you. They were smaller potatoes and I was using a peeler and my arthritic thumb joint started killing me so I am uttering some curse words like I’m Gordon Ramsey. I got down to the 5th potato and it was getting worse. Marty offered to finish them for me but I said thank you for offering but by now I’m determined. I knew you could “feel” my pain.

My allergies are talking to me today so to give them more attention I went out in the wind and pulled weeds tonight. I figure if I’m already pegged I may as well get some weeds pulled. Our lawn service is supposed to keep the rock areas sprayed to kill weeds - I think that was a waste of money based on how many weeds I pulled. Out of our 9 flower pots only 3 still have live plants so I pulled all the dead flowers out as well. I am going to have Marty check the drip system because I don’t think that sucker is working. Maybe the battery is dead or something.

Marty is going to get grief from me when he gets home. This morning there were 2 pieces of that cantaloupe left in the frig and I decided I wouldn’t take them for my lunch but I’d have them for supper - well he ate them. Then when I went to pull the weeds and flowers I put a bag of trash in our trash can and he’d brought home his Dyson from the gym to clean the filter and dumped all the dirt and dust from his canister straight in to our trashcan - so when I dumped the bag of trash in there the dust all flew up in my face. He’ll pay. whahahahahahaha.

They hooked up my iMac for me at work today and I can see things a little better. I’ve been using an Apple Thunderbolt monitor but somehow this monitor seems better. I’m excited. I can’t wait until I get my computer glasses to try.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

 

[marcy]

Deegee we were posting at the same time. I love Rice Krispie treats. I had a roast beef sandwich for lunch today too. Sweet that your books are available. I am at about 80% on the book I started last week.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I thought you were going to tell me you sliced your finger while peeling potatoes! We both have that history as well. That arthritic thumb joint is the pits. I think I’d rather my middle finger hurt than my thumb. That was sweet of Marty to offer to finish them for you. I had to peel cucumbers for mom last visit. She can barely use her right hand and is having surgery on the 27th. I think it’s that condition dee*jay mentioned with her hands.

Sorry your allergies are bugging you and that’s really too bad you can’t take anything. We’ve been sneezing a lot the last few days. I told Matt he better not have brought Covid cooties into our house from the block party! I’m sure it’s just allergies.

Did you give Marty grief? Those are such things some men would do, not even thinking! So I’m intrigued by this drip system you mentioned. What is that? Is that something where I might actually not mind planting flowers because I didn’t have to water them? I didn’t plant a thing this year...actually it’s been a few years since I’ve planted anything. Talk about lazy!

Matt explained to me today how he applies science to making the rice krispy treats. It’s all in the consistency of the melted butter and marshmallows. He went into such detail...I swear, that man. I love him to pieces!

I hope you love your computer glasses. I have three pairs now. Did you get the ones with the light filters? My last pair has the computer lenses and a driving prescription at the top and reading prescription at the bottom to wear over my contact lenses. And they came with the magnetic clip for sunglasses. I love them! But they only work when I have contacts in.

I worked until 7 today. We had planned to head to Walmart after work, and discovered it is still closing early at 8:30. It takes half an hour to get there, so we scooted out of the house so fast I didn’t have time to put on rings or earrings. Finally getting out of the house and I didn’t get all blinged up! Dang it! We haven’t been in a while and I had a two page list going. We were able to get most things, but some shelves are still pretty empty. We took Lily for a quick walk when we got home. Food today wasn’t great. Matt made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch (very tasty), and then we had to find something open on the way home this evening at 9pm. We stopped at a Cook Out restaurant. Do you have those? It’s new to our area. So I had a bad dinner...hamburger and onion rings...at 9:30. it was sooo good. I’ll try harder tomorrow. Have a great Wednesday!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, yes we both have incidents with sharp objects - I hear about it frequently. Marty says he doesn't want to spend hours in the emergency room so hand over the knife. Peeling cucumbers definitely cramps up those sore fingers and thumbs. I hope your mom's surgery goes well and she can use her hands okay afterwards.

Sorry you and Matt are sneezing so much. It is a bad time of year for allergies. We have pretty thick smoke again today. I sneezing my head off at work this morning - I was kind of hoping they'd send me home. Ha Ha.

i gave Marty grief all right - he said I know better than to count on food to still be there if I don't eat it when I see it. That is true. As for the dirt and dust in my face he said cool I have a funny video to watch when I back up the camera feed. The putz.

I love, love the drip system Marty set up for us. He said it is more like a small sprinkler system. We've had it since we moved here. We have ceramic pots and he got thin hoses (maybe 1/2 to 5/9 inch) with t's coming off them and runs them up through the bottom of the pots and each pot has a little sprinkler head. He hooks it to our hose and has a battery run outdoor timer on it so it comes on every day at a certain time and runs for whatever time he sets. He leaves the hose turned on and when the timer kicks on it starts the little sprinklers. Apparently what happened is someone turned off our hose. We've had construction guys come get water out of our hose and that is probably what happened. It wasn't hard to do and not very expensive. It's great as long as the hose is turned on. The 3 pots that still have flowers probably got enough water from our lawn sprinklers to survive. They aren't thriving but are alive. Funny story when we moved I was at the old house and Marty was at the new house - I told the movers to leave all the ceramic pots behind because I didn't want to water them all by hand. Marty went and got them himself the next day and said he'd figure out a water system for them.

I love that Matt has his Rice Krispie Treats down to a science; it made me think for the commercial where the lady throws flour all over herself before bringing out a plate of RKT so it looks like she slaved over them. They are tasty.

That's great computer glasses work so well for you. I had a pair of glasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses and really enjoyed them. I hope I like computer glasses. I don't know if I got light filters - I think I got anti glare. I need the lightweight lenses and she said they don't have them for the computer glasses which I thought was strange. I guess they came in today but they were messed up so had to order them again.

Was Walmart busy that late tonight? Glad you were able to pick up lots of things. Our shelves are still pretty bare - paper towels, TP, cleaners, antibacterial soaps, canned goods are all pretty much wiped out all the time. What is a cook out restaurant?

Work wasn't as hectic today which was refreshing. I had an hour to kill before going home so I emailed myself pictures off my phone to save on my new to me iMac so I can have my own desktop and screen saver pictures. Our windows machines are locked down so much we don't have screen savers but the one on my Mac works. Sweet.

I went to the Farmer's market and picked up peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers and cherries. I decided to stop for supper at Perkins for a waffle but ended up getting their $10 deal - burger, fries and pie. I brought my piece of apple pie home and had it after doing dishes. Just as I sat down to goof off online one of my two employees taking care of those evil blackouts tonight on back to back live games couldn't get logged on through our VPN so I logged in and helped out for about 90 minutes.

It's bedtime so I'd best head that way.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Here are all the pots. You can kind of see the hookup to our hose. We hide the hose under the rocks but you can see some of them. This is obviously from another summer.

 

[marcy]

Looks like they call those small sprinkler heads shrub sprinklers. I’d say they are about 1/2 inch diameter and can be adjusted like regular sprinkler heads.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-that’s an awesome idea! And the flowers in the pots are so pretty and colorful. The pots too! I remember a neighbor telling me when we lived in our previous house that flowers did better when you watered them. Haha! I’m going to show Matt your watering system. Your grass looks so luscious. We had a really nice sod yard when we moved in, but we learned that the previous owners worked on it several times a week. We are NOT those kind of people. We have recently started having it treated again, but the summer has been unbearably hot and the grass is crispy. I love the rocks too. I’ve noticed several of our neighbors have ditched mulch for rocks. That’s something to think about. The bushes I nearly crippled my hands on need trimmed again. ARGH.

The CookOut restaurant appears to be a South Eastern thing, recently expanding more northerly. It opened here when everything was shut down for in-person dining. The only meal I have ever ordered is a hamburger and onion rings, and it’s so good I haven’t tried anything else! It’s fresh meat, pattied daily. Nothing frozen, and it’s grilled when you order it. Sooo good.

Too bad your glasses were made wrong, but I’m glad they caught it and sent them back. I really hope you love them and can see a difference with them. I seldom wear my glasses with the full prescription because I always have my contacts in, but I had to wear them when my eye was having a freak out in March. I couldn’t see out of them at all. The eye doctor took one look and said the lenses were in crooked and it should have been caught before they sent them home with me. She popped them out and put them back in, and now they’re perfect.

Matt says since nobody can actually attend games, he doesn’t understand blackouts now. He’s a huge Reds fan, but we live in WV and we can only get Pittsburgh baseball. I think he signed up for MLB.com once and still couldn’t get Reds games. College football is his favorite season of the year, and I think he has cried a little over some of the conferences not playing. The conference WVU is in announced today they‘ll be playing, so hopefully that cheers him up some. He loves sports so much. I think I told you we were in a parking lot eating dinner one evening (when everything was closed for in-person dining), and he was giving a play by play of two kids throwing football in their yard. At this point, he will watch anything that remotely looks like a sport.

Did I tell you I cut part of my fingertip off in December last year? My poor message finger has had a tough time lately. It mostly grew back, but I had to keep it wrapped and cushioned for almost two months. I thought of you when I did it! It’s good you can set up some screensavers and desktop on your Mac. Matt’s work laptop doesn’t allow anything on it either. The desktop is a company logo and no screensaver.

I contacted today about ordering the flower cluster earrings in yellow gold but with a lever back instead of a post. After thinking about getting YG earrings since January, I decided not to think about it any longer so I ordered them. Yay! I’m going to hold off on having the one I lost replaced. I am determined to find that thing.

I had a chicken salad sandwich for lunch and I’m not really feeling like dinner. I’m having a lot of pain in my jaw after my root canal, and the earliest I could get back in is a week from today. I guess this is to be expected for anything in 2020. I didn’t work any OT today either. I’m off to read for a while and hopefully to bed early. Goodnight!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, thank you. We wandered around local hardware and landscaping stores to pick out assorted pots. Since the collection added up to quite a bit of money Marty had no intention of leaving them behind at our last house. Our last place had the pots on the deck or by the garage door so I hauled jugs of water in and out to water them. So when Marty brought the pots to our new house I said okay but you have to water them. Amazing how quickly he came up with a watering system. I was kind of sad last night looking for a close up of one of those little sprinkler heads because our flowers are so pathetic this year. I might go pick up a few though. I told Marty it's amazing how much our few remaining flowers have perked up with some water. Our neighbors had a fence put in mid June so I bet those guys needed water for posts and shut off the faucet out there. They started dying about the time of that first hailstorm and I was rather puzzled because we have frequent hail here and I've need seen the plants not come back. Now I know this was not related to hail damage.

It's hard to keep grass looking good in high heat. Is it pretty humid there? We have low humidity and lots of wind. You have some acreage too, right? Our yard is pretty large for the city. We have a lawn service that fertilizes and mows.

The CookOut restaurant sounds good. That's great they have fresh food and not frozen.

I sure could have used my computer glasses today since I couldn't see my work laptop very well so i finally moved to our dinner table and did better there. Marty said I should pick a spot in the house and we can set me up an office. I said there is a nice big office downstairs but he said I couldn't have his. How rude.

That stinks you had to wear just glasses in the spring. I always found my vision was way better with contacts. Wow that your lenses were in crooked glad it was easily fixed but that is too bad you had to use them for so long. I quit wearing contacts for 2 reasons - I reached a point i needed reading glasses with them anyway and work is so dry they started kind of fusing to my eyes and then anywhere from 10 am to 6 pm my eyes would just say enough get these things out of my eyes.

Tell Matt that is a very valid point about blackouts. The leagues and local networks have that monopoly and it's all about money they get from advertising. Since no one can go to the games they should lift all restrictions. If Matt gets the MLB Extra Innings package he should be able to watch the Reds game. Would you feel funny giving me your zip code? I can check the Reds pattern and see if your zip code is in the Reds territory. The Cardinals have the largest area and I think the Reds is pretty big. That's good WVU plans to play college football this year. I know the conference our college is in has cancelled.

OMG how awful you cut off part of your fingertip. You might have told me but i am not sure. And it ws your all important message finger too. At least you could have fun showing people your finger - see I hurt my finger. I know, I'm such a child. That's good most of your fingertip grew back but I bet it was slow and tender - probably still is. I took a chunk out of my index finger with a pair of scissors. It took about a month before I could leave it uncovered; I used bandages because it bled pretty bad and then wrapped it with several layers of wound self stick tape. It has a scar in there that bugs me sometimes. We are self destructive.

My company is the same as Matt's, we can't have a screen saver and the desktop is the company logo. You can save a picture as the desktop but every time you restart your computer it's back to the company logo. I guess Macs don't work well with our company security system so some of their controls don't work on Macs. Ha Ha.

Yay for ordering the flower cluster earrings and have them put on leverbacks. Are those from Whiteflash? I'll go look after I post here. I really like diamonds in YG; I think it makes the diamonds pop.

Sorry you are still having pain; as serious and lengthy as your root canal I can believe it though. I hope you feel better soon. I remember eating pudding and instant mashed potatoes for days - did the same when I had a tooth pulled. Marty grilled me a burger for lunch and we had baked potatoes and raw veggies with our grilled meat (he had chicken). I made myself a pancake for supper with whip cream and peaches.

Good for you not working OT time. I worked over 10 hours but sadly don't get OT. Hopefully we aren't started tomorrow already behind.

I didn't lift tonight but will plan on doing that tomorrow. I might go pick up a few more flowers to put out. Our first frost is about 5 weeks away but i could enjoy them for a few weeks.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Deegee those flower cluster earring will look fabulous as dangles on lever backs.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I really hope the earrings turn out like I have in mind! I ordered the 1.00 ctw size, and yes- from Whiteflash. The ship date is August 24. Woo-hoo! It’s funny I ordered earrings since I don’t go anywhere. Someday I will... I have been satisfied with everything from Whiteflash, and I hope these turn out great as well.

Yes, summers here are very humid. I have curly hair, which is very porous. Sometimes when I come in from sitting on the deck, my hair is damp and it’s not even raining outside. After a few days of nice rain showers and 2 lawn treatments, the grass is starting to turn green instead of crunchy/fried. No humidity. That would be awesome. I’m so jealous of your flowers and your lawn!

Ouch for taking a chunk out of your finger with scissors! My finger IS still very sensitive, especially when I hit it just right. I guess were lucky we even still have fingers at this point! I didn’t realize I had cut the tip off because it was bleeding so badly. I had it wrapped in paper towels and was holding it over my head when Matt told me a piece of it was on the floor. Yuck.

I checked the receipt for my computer glasses. The lenses are called EyeZen, and they have the blue light filter, antiglare, all that stuff. I couldn’t get my real prescription with those lenses, so these are just the driving/reader combo with the light filters. I have the dry eye thing, but it’s because my eyes aren’t producing many tears. I’ve used Restasis and Xiidra, and tomorrow my new prescription called Cequa should be delivered. I have 2 other steroid eye drop prescriptions. I think my problems would be here whether I wear glasses or contacts. Tell Marty you NEED the big office downstairs!!

I worked a few extra hours today. I had a real EUREKA! moment at the end of the day and need to run my thought by the database guy in the morning. I sure hope it will work because it will speed this project way up. Fingers crossed. We took 2 short walks in the neighborhood today while it wasn’t raining. I had a banana for breakfast, a slice of pizza for lunch, and Matt made a fabulous chicken tacos with rice, beans and corn cake dinner. Have a wonderful Friday!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, those cluster earrings sound like a perfect size; I can't wait until you get them. You can always wear earrings at home, I wear them at least 6 days a week.

I do remember you have curly hair; mine is pretty straight but I have so much of it I'd say I have body and once it gets past my ears is kind of curls. I have wasted way too much money getting perms when I didn't really need them.

That sounds funny to me your hair would feel damp from setting outside. I remember arriving at Myrtle Beach - that humidity smacked you right in the face. It is overwhelming to someone from a low humidity climate. it would be nice to have humidity so my skin wouldn't be so dry but there are certainly advantages to no / low humidity. Nail polish and mascara dry almost immediately. i remember a summer with my Aunt and Uncle in Iowa City and not having patience to paint my nails. It took forever to get nail polish to dry and of course my mascara smeared all over my face.

I totally chucked at your comment it's amazing you and I even have fingers. It is so true. And yes yuck that a piece of your finger was on the floor. I am sure that chunk out of my finger was on the floor too but it was gushing blood so bad I got up right away grabbing a paper towel. I put a big bandage on it and it wasn't stopping the bleeding. I was on my way to one of those emergicare places but decided to get some supplies at Walgreens first. When I finally could see the hole there was no way they could stitch it up because it was a hole. Oh well, probably not that last time I'll have a finger accident. Such fun.

Thank you for checking your receipt for your glasses. I think I am getting the blue filter and anti glare, they didn't give me a printout of my order. I hope the new eye drops help your dry eyes.

I did tell Marty today there was a really nice office downstairs I could use. He said it's not that he wouldn't let me use it but I'd hate it - because it is cold down there and he's right. I find our basement way too cold in the winter. I think a nice office chair and a good floor lamp would work out for me in the den. The desk chair in there is a Sealy Big and Tall chair so I don't find it comfortable and Marty hated it which is why it's up here. If working from home off and on becomes long term I'll probably do that.

Good luck with your Eureka moment and I hope it works out and saves time on your big project. I found a hot key in an app I use to save things and was thrilled. It cut that tasks down to 1/3 the time it takes me from home. It's a second window that pops up and it's larger than my laptop screen so I have to use the mouse or track pad to keep shrinking the screen to get to the save button at the bottom of the screen. I tried ALT+S and it saved. Sweet.

Your supper sounds delicious. What is corn cake? We visited my mom's cousin in Michigan once and their corn crop was ready to pick so my dad told them he wanted fresh corn with every meal; for some reason I remember corn pancakes and I loved them.

Work wasn't nearly as hectic as it has been lately so it was a quiet day for me. I went downstairs and ddi my lifting while I was still working. I didn't feel bad since I worked extra hours yesterday.

I am kind of bummed out Marty and I can't go to supper with his gym hours. To be fair I can go to supper with him but don't want to eat at about 8 or 9 pm. Anyway he knows I miss doing that and have had lots or work stress and he sent me a text saying his clients cancelled and asked if I wanted to go to dinner. I had ordered grocery pickup between 6 and 7 but we still went for supper and then he picked up groceries for us on the way home. I even had a glass of wine.

Tomorrow is Friday. Woo hoo!

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy Weekend.

We were in the 90's here again today; the ground is crunchy. Smoke is pouring in from nearby fires so it's best to stay inside anyway.

Work was busy but not crazy. Woo hoo!!!

I made myself a plate of nachos-like for supper. I browned a hamburger and crumbled it up, put it on some smashed up tortilla chips, sprinkled some cheese and tomatoes on top. It was pretty delicious. I had a dish of peaches and cherries for dessert.

I do have to dial in to work first thing in the morning but hopefully it won't take long. My sister and BIL are coming to visit on Sunday. I need to print her some stickers and business cards for her doll clothes business. Most of her craft shows are cancelled but luckily a doll shop in Denver sells her doll clothes so she at least can keep making doll clothes (and maybe build up her inventory).

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I had a short night - they added double headers for today and we didn't get the schedule until after 10:30 last night. My on call lady keeps doing something and can't remote in to her PC at work so tag I was it and no one could check my work. I could have contacted someone else to check it but at this point I'd rather be fired if I made a big mistake than be jerk and wake someone up to see if they can check my work. I got up at 6:30 to run a report that i can compare what we have in the guide versus schedules and it was fine. Woo hoo!!! I smell another big change coming for tomorrow.

I've been busy. I made myself a real breakfast -potatoes, an egg, Canadian bacon and toast. Went to Marty's meet at 10 then he and I went out for Mexican food afterwards. I've been doing laundry, baked a cake and then we took my car to get washed and stopped for some Cold Stone ice cream.

Marty had a going away "Meet" for 2 of his high girl clients. They are so cute. 16 and 18 years old, they were adopted from China and they are the sweetest, kindest girls. Their mom and dad are awesome. The dad will keep lifting but the one girl is headed to college in Nebraska and the 16 year old is going to a school in Canada and they have training to play hockey which is what she wants to do. With COVID restrictions she and her dad have to quarantine in a hotel for 2 weeks before she can go to school. They can't even leave their room. The dad got meet t-shirts made with "Mia's Meetathon" on them. The girls gave Marty a pair of socks with pictures of bacon on them. It was fun!!

Still pretty smoky here.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

 

[deegee]

Marcy-your nachos like supper sounds good. I’m always good with that kind of meal. I hope your weekend work wasn’t bad. With our new system, we can’t push out our own work. It’s a hard stop. Everything has to go for QC, and it often drives me crazy trying to find someone to QC when the person I’m working with isn’t available. I asked for another login ID for QC purposes, but that was a no-go! Matt tells me those double headers are added last minute.

That’s cute that Marty had a going away “Meet” with the two high school girls. Is the 16 yr old going to school in Canada specifically for training in hockey? That’s hard core!

I never thought about mascara drying faster with no humidity. I remembered you saying polish did, but mascara drying faster is a crazy thought to me. Maybe I could actually put it on! Back in the days when I drove to an office for work, I always had to clean up under my eyes before going in the building because my mascara always smudged on the drive in. And I don’t even wear much. I never polish my nails because I always smudge it. I bought polish and had fully intended to polish them last week, but I broke 3 and cut all the rest of them down. I’ll try again when they grow out.

Corn cake is kind of like cornbread only sweeter, and made with cream-style corn. We buy a mix, of course. Did you have Chi-Chi’s restaurants before they went bankrupt? All of the restaurants closed, but they still sell salsa and the corn cake mix.

I worked 12 hours today and I’m tired! I calculated that I only need to work 75 hours of overtime a year to bump my salary to where I want it in my retirement calculation. 75 hours a year is nothing! I can only work 6 more OT hours this week, so I need to learn to pace myself better. For breakfast I had a bowl of dry cereal because I realized after I poured it that we were out of milk. We had leftover beef stroganoff for lunch (okay, prob shouldn’t call it that. It’s cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix, stew beef and noodles. Love those soup recipes!). Matt grilled hamburgers and made fresh corn on the cob for dinner. We went to mom’s yesterday, and she sent me home with 2 bags of tomatoes out of the garden (3 different varieties as well as cherry tomatoes), green peppers and cucumbers.

We both worked too late to go to the park, but we took a good 3 mile walk in a neighborhood down the road a piece. It has some killer hills, too! We had a department meeting today, and there is still no word on when to expect to go back to the office. I’m off to read for a while and then get to bed. I’m tired! Have a great Tuesday.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, since I generally eat hamburgers or steaks I love when I can eat something like pizza, pasta or tacos. Love fresh fruit too.

Darn you have trouble finding someone to QC your work before it can be pushed out. We scrutinize each others work before it goes to air. Yes, those double headers are very last minute.

Yes, the 16 year old is going to school in Canada specifically to train for hockey.

I can totally believe you would end up with smudged mascara there; it dries here in seconds. I can put on 2 coats of nail polish and it's pretty much set within about 10 minutes. That makes is nice since I am not known for patience.

I think I've had corn cake; it is good. I had some fresh corn on the cob for supper last night. It was delicious. Chi-Chi's sounds familiar but we never had on here; I must have eaten at one on some vacation. I love cornbread with homemade soup. It sounds good now.

As much as you work you'll reach your max overtime hours before you know it. Darn then you can say I get to quit work now. Ha Ha.

Soup recipes are great; quick, easy and tasty. I like cream of mushroom soup with rice and chicken breasts. Nice you brought home some fresh veggies from your mom. My sister and BIL brought us an assortment of veggies from their garden on Sunday. Some little orange cherry tomatoes are my favorites out of her veggies. I told Marty not to eat the orange ones they are awful.

We had a busy weekend. My sister and BIL were here pretty much all day Sunday. Marty and my BIL were out on the patio downstairs and I was showing my sister our recenlty painted deck so I poured a little bit of water through the boards and apparently got Marty's foot. What a great shot, eh?

I didn't get my lifting done this weekend and didn't lift yesterday so since I normally lift tomorrow I took today off as well. Ha! Slacker.

Work has slowed down a bit since NHL and NBA is mostly national games now but those pesky MLB games are keeping us hopping.

I am toying with just ordering a sapphire ring; I just can picture myself driving to Denver and hanging out for hours in the jewelry store for hours wearing a mask. i truly have a hard time breathing in a mask. Sadly if I order it I wouldn't decide well I can trade in this and that to help pay for this. Of course I can always use this as my current purchase to keep my credit card active so they don't cancel it for lack of use. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby